1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disposable case ready food tray that is repulpable and recyclable for carrying and shipping various food items, such as meat, poultry and produce, the food tray being formed from off-the-shelf paperboard made from natural wood fibers that is coated with a waterproof coating, for example, a polyethylene or polypropylene coating, to provide a waterproof food cavity that prevents leakage of liquid from the food item being absorbed by the food tray; the food tray also coated with a moisture resistant coating, for example, a water based acrylic coating, to provide a moisture resistant exterior support surface which prevents wicking of liquid into the food tray if the tray is placed on a wet surface and allows excess liquid to be released from the tray during the manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various food trays are known in the art for carrying food items, such as meat, poultry and produce. Such food trays are normally wrapped with a transparent wrapping material in order to display the food item carried by the tray and placed on display in retail markets. In yet other applications, food trays are known to be used in “butcher shop” applications in which fresh cuts of meats that have been selected by a consumer are placed on a cardboard food tray and wrapped in “butcher paper”. So called butcher paper is kraft paper that is used by butchers for the purpose of wrapping meat and fish and is resistant to blood and meat fluids.
Some known food trays are formed from expanded polystyrene, marketed as Styrofoam® by the Dow Chemical Company. Examples of food trays formed from polystyrene are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,899,925 and 5,050,791, for example. Although food trays formed from polystyrene have been used for years with acceptable results, there are various drawbacks to using food trays made from polystyrene. Probably the biggest drawback to the use of polystyrene is that it is not biodegradable. In fact, there is a growing trend by governmental entities to ban the use of polystyrene. For example, more than 100 US cities including Portland, San Francisco. Seattle and Honolulu, now ban the use of polystyrene trays in restaurants.
There are several reasons for the ban on the use of polystyrene. One reason relates to health concerns that toxic components of the polystyrene trays may leach into the food being carried by the tray. Another concern is that such polystyrene trays are not biodegradable and are thus placing a large burden on landfills. Unfortunately, it is unsafe to incinerate such trays. In particular, incineration of such trays is known to produce toxic gasses including carcinogens. As such, disposable of such polystyrene trays in landfills is the only viable option.
In order to solve this problem, food trays have been developed that are formed from paper board formed from natural biodegradable cellulose materials, such as cellulose hardwood and softwood fibers. Unfortunately, raw paper board, formed from natural wood fibers, has virtually no ability to prevent blood and other meat liquids from leaking through the food tray. As such, custom composite paper board materials which include one or more natural wood fiber materials and one or more waterproofing agents. The natural wood fiber material and the waterproofing agents are processed together to form a composite paperboard sheet that is waterproof and can be used as a food tray. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,982 discloses a composite paperboard sheet with waterproof properties that is amenable to being used as a food tray. In particular, the '982 patent discloses composite paperboard formed from 60%-80% virgin wood pulp, 20%-40% polyolefin synthetic pulp, 10%-15% clay and 1%-2% cationic dispersed rosin, processed in such a way that the polyolefin pulp and the cationic dispersed rosin fuse with the wood pulp and the clay to form a plasticized sheet of paper board that is essentially water proof. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,154,982 and 5,863,388 also disclose composite paperboard materials that include waterproofing agents to enable the paperboard to be used in food tray applications. Unfortunately, the composite paper board with waterproofing agents is a custom paperboard and is thus relatively more expensive than ordinary paperboard without waterproofing
Thus, there is a need to provide a food tray that is relatively less expensive to produce than known food trays and is also biodegradable.